Crystal (Smith) DeStefano

Crystal (Smith) DeStefano is President and Director of Public Relations at Strategic Communications, LLC in Syracuse, N.Y. and host of The Strategic Minute podcast.

DeStefano brings a blend of traditional and social media expertise to the company. She advises clients on how to integrate public relations and social media tools into their communications efforts, with a focus on sharing proactive stories as well as responding to sensitive situations with employees, customers, local communities and the news media. Through her disciplined use of public relations, DeStefano understands how to maximize the power of the news media to get a message across.

DeStefano earned her Bachelor of Science in Marketing and Finance at the State University New York at Albany. She has public relations experience from agencies in Albany and Syracuse.

Too often, organizations are so focused on delivering their messages to the local news, government officials, on social media, in newsletters, and even holding special events – but they step right over their employees in order to get to all of these other channels. Your employees notice this, and they’re likely bitter about it. That is setting yourself up for failure.

There are a lot of good things that lots of organizations do or accomplish every day. Some of them are nice internal efforts or achievements, some involve new initiatives for the organization, and some stuff has a real impact on the community that the organization serves.

In times of trouble, or times of transition, we expect the president or CEO to be the delivering the messages. Sure – if the news is big enough. But the CEO doesn’t always have to be or organization’s spokesperson. In fact, there are several scenarios in which that can hurt your organization.

For the most part, the more media attention your organization receives, the more your stakeholders will recognize you. But visibility isn’t enough. It’s the content of news stories and online posts that determine whether your audiences will have a favorable impression of you.